Jakarta – High-profile graft suspect Gayus Tambunan finally ended speculation about his trip to Bali by confessing that he was indeed the man photographed by the Jakarta Globe in the crowd at a tennis tournament on Nov. 5.
At the time he was supposed to be detained at the National Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) detention facility in Depok.
"To put this controversy to rest, I admit the man in Bali was me," he said outside the South Jakarta District Court after his trial. "I had no bad intentions upon leaving my cell. I saw that others were allowed to come and go and I simply wanted to meet my family," he said.
Inside the court, a tearful Gayus told the judge that he been suffering from stress since being detained. "I needed to clear my head," he told presiding judge Albertina Ho.
A man resembling Gayus was photographed earlier this month watching an international tennis tournament in Nusa Dua, Bali. The photograph was first published in the Jakarta Globe on Nov. 6. Police investigators said on Sunday that they had evidence Gayus traveled to Bali with members of his extended family.
Bali Police Chief Insp. Gen. Hadiatmoko, however, avoided directly naming Gayus, identifying him as "a man resembling Gayus" in a spread of photographs taken at the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions. "The man resembling Gayus stayed at the Westin Hotel using an alias," Hadiatmoko said in Denpasar. He cited the alias by the initial "M."
On Monday, Bali Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Gede Sugianyar told Metro TV that Gayus went to Bali with his wife and children. He also said investigators from the National Police had taken security camera footage from the Westin Hotel.
"We are helping the team from the National Police investigate the movements in Bali of a man who resembled Gayus. The team took the CCTV footage from the Westin Hotel," he said.
Meanwhile, Gayus received a surprise when he entered the courtroom for his corruption trial on Monday. Six men from the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) wearing masks of the man photographed at the Bali tournament were seated in the back row of the courtroom. The former tax official smiled when he saw the men.
"We want to say that Gayus was able to leave his cell at will and travel because of the failure to uphold the law in Indonesia," the LBH chairman, Nurkholis Hidayat, was quoted as saying by news portal Detik.com.
He also said he suspected this was not a mere case of bribery, and could involve something much bigger. "The police must investigate who Gayus met in Bali and the reason for the meeting," he said.